Issue

The historic environment is made up of the buildings, monuments, sites and landscapes that reflect our history.

If we did not have measures in place to protect and conserve the historic environment, important places would risk being changed and losing what makes them special, or being destroyed and lost forever.

We are responsible for protecting and conserving England’s historic environment for the benefit of present and future generations, and for helping people access and enjoy these ‘heritage assets’.

Actions

We look after the historic environment by:

promoting the understanding, valuing, caring and enjoyment of the historic environment through funding English Heritage

nominating places in the UK for World Heritage Site status

protecting buildings of special architectural or historic interest by giving them listed status, which prevents them being demolished, extended or altered without permission

Appendix 2: protecting shipwreck sites

This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.

Because of their particular archaeological, historical or artistic importance, we protect certain wrecked vessel sites at sea from unauthorised interference. We protect them by designating a restricted area around the site.

Licences to dive protected shipwreck sites

You must have a licence to dive in a restricted area around a protected shipwreck site. For more information and how to apply for a licence, visit English Heritage’s website to see its advice on diving licenses.

Appendix 3: protecting buildings through the listing system

Listing a building protects it against unauthorised demolition, alteration or extension because of its special architectural features or historic interest.

English Heritage is responsible for caring for our historic environment, including recommending to ministers in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport which buildings should be listed. After ministers have announced their decision, English Heritage records which buildings are listed.

There are 3 grades of listed building:

Grade I are buildings of exceptional interest

Grade II* are particularly important buildings of more than special interest

Grade II are buildings of special interest, justifying every effort to preserve them

There are approximately 374,000 listed buildings in England and 92% are Grade II listed.

Important historical buildings and memorials are often owned or run by charities and faith groups. We provide grants that help them to maintain these structures.

Memorials Grants Scheme

The Memorials Grant Scheme allows faith groups and charities that look after statues and monuments to claim grants equal to the VAT amount they pay on upkeep and improvement works.

You can find out more, including which types of statues, monuments and similar structures are eligible for a grant, on the Memorial Grants Scheme website.

Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme

The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme makes grants towards the VAT incurred in making repairs and carrying out alterations to listed buildings mainly used for public worship. The scheme has an annual budget of £42m, and presently receives around 4000 claims each year.

Appendix 5: protecting ancient monuments through the scheduling system

This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.

Scheduled Ancient Monuments – often referred to as ‘Scheduled Monuments’ – are nationally important sites that have been given legal protection by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport due to their archaeological or historic interest.

There are currently nearly 20,000 Scheduled Monuments in England. However, other sites of comparable significance are known, but not currently designated as Scheduled Monuments: potentially, further sites still remain to be discovered.

Together these sites help to shed new light on our past, from early prehistory up to the present day.

It is a criminal offence to demolish, destroy, damage, remove, repair, alter or add to Scheduled Monuments, or to carry out flooding or tipping operations on them, without prior permission from the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. This is known as Scheduled Monument Consent (‘SMC’).

• Details of government policy relating to Scheduled Monuments and nationally important but
non-scheduled monuments can be found here.